Liberals will soon pick the next prime minister. Here's what candidates are promising
5 candidates in race to replace Trudeau are trickling out policy proposals
In just under a month, Liberal Party members will choose their next leader, who will automatically become Canada's next prime minister. At least until the next election.
Candidates vying to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 9 are starting to flesh out their visions for the country.
This unusual leadership race has seen the main challengers pivot to confront the existential threats to the Canadian economy lobbed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Here's how the contenders are responding to Trump's tariffs and what they're pitching on the home front.
Mark Carney
Former central banker Mark Carney has spent the first half of the race fanning across the country, promising to bring a centrist focus on the economy if he's successful in replacing Trudeau.
Since launching his campaign, Carney — who has amassed the most caucus support — has dropped hints about the policies he'd bring in. But so far they have mostly been void of specifics.
During a news conference last week, the former Bank of Canada governor said he'd cut middle-class taxes, scrap the Trudeau government's capital gains tax increase, up defence spending to hit the NATO target by 2030 and "boost" the incomes of young Canadians.
He also said a Carney-led government would cut the red tape on building projects and address provincial trade barriers.
On Thursday, the former Bank of Canada governor suggested he'd get new homes built and lower building costs, "by including steps to promote innovation and increase productivity in the construction industry."
How all those new programs would work is still unclear. Carney's campaign has so far provided few details, including how much they'd cost.
Earlier this week, Carney was asked why he hasn't released more concrete policy details. Carney rejected the premise of the question.
"I've spent a substantial portion of my life in policy," he said.
"What I'm saying out here in ways that Canadians can understand and relate to their day-to-day life is all backed up by detailed policies. [There's a] time and place to reveal all of that."
His website currently has just one policy heading: climate.
Carney, once a vocal proponent of carbon pricing, has said he'd replace his party's consumer carbon tax with an incentive program that he promises will reward Canadians for making green choices. He has vowed to keep the output-based pricing system levied on large industrial emitters.
When it comes to responding to Trump, Carney has popped up on international platforms — The Daily Show, CNN and BBC Newsnight — to underscore that Canada will stand up to Trump.
If Trump follows through on his tariff threat, Carney has said he supports dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. In the longer term he has repeatedly pushed the need for Canada to attract investment, diversify trade and ease internal trade barriers in the face of an increasingly protectionist White House.
According to a recent poll, what he's saying appears to be resonating.
A recent Leger survey suggests that if Carney wins the Liberal leadership race, he would erase the massive lead the Conservatives have enjoyed for the past year and a half.
The same survey suggests support for a Liberal Party led by Chrystia Freeland would slide three points to 28 per cent, with Conservatives at 39 per cent.
(The online poll reached 1,590 adults between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10. The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.)
Chrystia Freeland
Chrystia Freeland the candidate has spent the first half of the race distancing herself from Chrystia Freeland the former finance minister.
Out of the gate she promised policy shifts that put her at odds with the government she once held a key role in, including scrapping the carbon tax — the Trudeau government's marquee environmental policy — and abandoning changes to the capital gains tax.
Freeland — who led Canada's response to Trump during his first term — has angled herself to voters as a tested negotiator to take on the president during his second term.
This week she renewed her calls for Canada to take a more aggressive stance to deal with the U.S. administration, including dollar-for-dollar retaliation on any tariffs and 100 per cent tariffs on Teslas, the electric vehicles made by key Trump adviser Elon Musk.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, she suggested a retaliation list should be published "immediately to allow for maximum pressure on the administration from the American industries and workers we will target." She also spoke to CNN this week.
Since resigning from Trudeau's cabinet in December, Freeland has pitched herself as someone who would have a steadier hand on the economy than her former boss.
In her searing resignation letter in December, she took aim at what she called Trudeau's "costly political gimmicks."
Earlier this week, she rolled out a suite of proposals aimed at improving the cost of living for Canadians, including an income tax cut for millions of people and policies she says will lower the price of groceries and reduce credit card debt.
On Thursday, she proposed a plan she said would entice Canadian doctors and nurses practising in the U.S. to head north. Her campaign says if Trump moves ahead with his tariff threats, she will offer doctors $200,000 and nurses $100,000 to return home to Canada and pay off a portion of their U.S. student loans.
Last week, she unveiled a 10-point economic growth plan that promised to eliminate trade barriers on agriculture, transportation and alcohol, leveraging federal transfers to do so. Her plan also calls to fast-track at least 10 major projects a year and enhance tax incentives for those in the critical minerals sector.
When it comes to defence, she said she would meet the NATO spending target of two per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 — five years ahead of the federal government's stated plan.
Most of Freeland's policy announcements have been made through written statements with no news conferences, meaning reporters haven't been able to ask questions.
Her campaign did not respond to a CBC News request for the costing of all her policy proposals.
Karina Gould
Former government House leader Karina Gould has been one of the most active campaigners when it comes to rolling out policies and doing interviews with Canadian media.
The 37-year-old has presented herself as a younger, "fresh" voice for the party, who listens to the grassroots.
"We have to be honest about the fact that Canadians have lost trust in our party," Gould said last month after officially entering the race.
On Thursday, she promised to widen the eligibility for Canada's employment insurance system and introduce a universal basic income program.
When it comes to addressing Canadians' affordability concerns, an area the Liberal government is widely seen to have struggled with, she has said she would temporarily cut the federal sales tax on goods and services to four per cent for one year.
She's also promising to lift the GST on children's clothing, diapers, strollers and car seats permanently.
When it comes to housing, Gould said she would offer interest-free loans to first-time homebuyers worth up to 50 per cent of the home's purchase price. Previous iterations of the program had limited the loans to about 10 per cent.
Other policy promises include:
- Pausing the increases on the consumer carbon tax.
- Permanently increasing the corporate tax rate — from 15 per cent to 17 per cent — on companies that make more than $500 million per year in profits.
- Exempting supply management from any future trade negotiations.
- Bolstering the powers of the Competition Bureau to better investigate reports of price gouging and over-pricing.
Frank Baylis
The first person to declare their intention to replace Trudeau, Montreal business leader Frank Baylis said his campaign is focused on three pillars: affordability, health care and modernizing government.
The former MP suggests boosting the economy by investing in Canadian universities, businesses and incubators and decreasing government debt.
Last week, he held a news conference in Ottawa where he presented a three-point government reform plan, which would limit terms for senators and MPs to 10 years, create a second chamber for debate in the House of Commons and redistribute power to MPs rather than party leaders.
He's also called for Canada to recognize Palestinian statehood and to invest in rebuilding efforts in Gaza.
Ruby Dhalla
Former MP Ruby Dhalla, who is billing herself as the true outsider in the race, is running to the right of her opponents.
The Paul Martin-era Liberal MP has kept most of her campaign so far online, posting her policy planks on social media.
Among them are promises to deport illegal immigrants and impose life sentences for possession of hard drugs. Dhalla has also called for an "economic czar" to identify waste and overspending and a new "health czar" to review the health-care system.
What's next in the race?
The candidates need to pay the final instalment of the $350,000 entry fee on Monday. With $125,000 due, it could see some candidates wiped off the ballot if they can't meet the fundraising goal.
The party will hold its official French and English debates on Feb. 24 and 25 in Montreal.
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With files from Ashley Burke and The Canadian Press
